“All Christmas Trees are Perfect”
Again, the morning is in the mid 30’s. The sky is mostly blue. Finally, the wind has disappeared, replaced by an ever so slight breeze. I can see a few brown, curled leaves fluttering at the ends of the smaller branches.
Yesterday was an odd day. First was what my sister calls the Christmas miracle. I went through my checkbook and found a glaring mistake. I didn’t carry a digit. I cheered at the unexpected wealth. Next, I had the intention of relocating my mouse but forgot it when I left for my concert. We’ll go back to that one. The concert went well until I was leaving. I couldn’t find my keys then I saw them on the passenger seat of the locked car. I almost never lock my lock. I did this time. Of course, I did. AAA came. Back to the mouse. I got the trap and was surprised. One mouse was now two mice. During the day, mouse one was joined by mouse two. Mouse count as of yesterday, six. No mice in the trap today.
We had an advent wreath when I was a kid. It was round and had five candles, three purple, one pink and one white. We lit one new candle each Sunday of Advent so the wreath got brighter as we got closer to Christmas. We had a reading before we lit each new candle. I have no memory of the readings or even the religious significance. I was there for the candles. I loved watching them flicker. I’d lick a finger and pass it through the flames. My mother would stop me and then continue reading. She took the fun away.
I always thought we had the most beautiful Christmas tree. The lights were huge. We filled every branch with ornaments. Icicles hung from ends of the branches. There were spots with holes, mostly in the middle, but we never really cared. We’d fill them with Christmas cards and a couple of Coca-Cola paper Santa Clauses. My mother always supervised the decorating. She’d put the best ornaments at the top of the tree. They were big and had glitter on them. I have one. My mother gave us all some of her old ornaments. I always put them on my tree. The big one I put at the top. It is tradition.
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December 7, 2024 at 4:49 pm
Hi Kat,
Today is chilly and rainy. The predicted high is 52°. I am taking a 100% slough day. I’m still in my PJs relaxing.
I have never figured out the connection between evergreen trees and the birth of Jesus. I realize that in the past 2,000 years of Christianity’s history a lot of things got mixed up and changed by various popes, and kings. Because most American Christians came from Northern Europe that’s where the tradition of Christmas trees probably come from.
Even my own religion were brought here by Jews from Eastern Europe, including my grandparents. There is an entire other form of Judaism that comes to us from places like, Spain, North Africa, Turkey, and the Middle East. They have much different foods, different ritual melodies, and even a different common language called Ladino.
European Jews are called Ashkenazi from the Hebrew word for Germany. The other Jewish culture is called Sephardic, from the Hebrew word for Spain. Whereas, Ashkenazi Jews spoke Yiddish, which is a form of middle German. Sephardic Jews speak a form of Spanish called Ladino. Both languages are written using Hebrew characters. The Rabbis of the Middle Ages determined that speaking Hebrew was not appropriate except for worship in the synagogue.
Most of the population of Israel are Sephardic Jews who immigrated there from the Middle East and North Africa. Israelis speak Hebrew which is the official language of the country.
Do Christians in the southern hemisphere, have Evergreen Christmas trees? Why would they not decorate palm trees because in the Southern Hemisphere December 25th is summer. 🙂 When you were living in Ghana, where there evergreen trees?
December 7, 2024 at 11:54 pm
Hi Bob,
52° this time of year here is a heat wave. Right now it is 29°. Tomorrow should be in the low 40’s. It might rain overnight.
Evergreen trees as far as I know were never connected to Christ. No pope is connected with a Christmas tree. It originated in Germany though greenery was used as decorations long before in places like England. Greenery in winter was a symbol of life. The Druids and the Romans used greenery to decorate their houses. I know Queen Victoria was sort of responsible for making trees popular. There was an engraving of her and Prince Albert and their kids around a Christmas tree with presents all around.
I knew nothing about Sephardic Jews, hadn’t ever heard of them until now. I knew about Yiddish but not Ladino. Thanks for the history.
In Ghana there were no evergreen trees so other trees, even huge branches, were used for Christmas trees. My school had one ugly decorated tree for the Christmas service. I read where in Hawaii boats come from the mainland with trees cut from Oregon and Washington. There are a few Christmas tree farms there but the trees look quite different than traditional fir trees due to the climate.